A heartwarming tail

May 28, 2017 • 2:30 pm

It’s a holiday weekend, so let’s end today’s posts on an upbeat note. Here’s a 6½-minute video of a wounded veteran who, on the verge of suicide, had his life saved by the appearance of a black and white kitten. The story is a bit sad, too, and if you don’t tear up at the end, you’re made of stone.

There are other videos at the Mutual Rescue site.

h/t: Karl

 

Child marriage in the U.S.: it’s far more common than you think

May 28, 2017 • 12:30 pm

Nick Kristof has a frightening column in today’s New York Times (click on screenshot to read it) detailing the extent of child marriages—nearly always involving young girls and older men—in the U.S. I had no idea, for instance, that 27 of our 50 states have no legal minimum age for marriage!

There are several hair-raising tales in his piece, including the title piece of an 11 year old forced to marry a 20 year old man who had raped her; it took place in Florida, one of those states with no minimum age. What struck me is the role of religion in all this. We know about Mormons, of course, but this also takes place in Christian and Jewish settings. The 11-year-old, for instance, married a member of her church. Few of these marriages work out, and in some places even constitute statutory rape, though that can be obviated. As Kristof notes:

Globally, a girl marries before the age of 15 every seven seconds, according to estimates by Save the Children. As in Africa and Asia, the reasons for such marriages in the U.S. are often cultural or religious; the American families follow conservative Christian, Muslim or Jewish traditions, and judges sometimes feel that they shouldn’t intrude on other cultures.

That cultural relativism is ridiculous; consequentialism alone dictates that no “respect” is due to such practices of any culture, much less in America.

Here are some facts:

  • Records show that over 167,000 people under 18 were married between 2000 and 2010, including girls as young as 12. That was from 38 states, but extrapolation from other states leads to an estimate of almost a quarter million child marriages during that decade.
  • Every state in the U.S. allows underage girls to get married, though some require consent of a judge or the parents.
  • New Hampshire has a law allowing girls to marry at 13; when a Girl Scout campaigned to raise the age to 18o, the Republican state legislature refused to change the law, with representative David Bates saying, ““We’re asking the Legislature to repeal a law that’s been on the books for over a century, that’s been working without difficulty, on the basis of a request from a minor doing a Girl Scout project.” How can he live with himself?
  • New Jersey has no minimum age for marriage. Last year the state legislature voted to raise the age to 18, but it was blocked by governor Chris Christie.

Here are the minimum ages for marriage by state:

Here’s the per capita landscape of child marriage:

And the number of child marriages from 2000-2010 from states with records; note that the highest numbers are in the South:

The reasons there should be an age threshold are clear: inability to give consent, the possibility of rape and underage (and dangerous) pregnancies, coercion by religion, and so on. And 18 seems about right to me. Perhaps there can be rare exceptions, but I can’t think of any, and surely the age should never be below 16. It’s appalling that any state should have no age limit, yet that’s the case for 54% of American states.

Setting limits is simply the right thing to do, and we need to make that happen.

Calvin and Hobbes and Cultural Studies

May 28, 2017 • 8:30 am

There’s been lots of pushback against Peter Boghossian and James Lindsay’s “conceptual penis” paper hoax, in which they submitted a meaningless (but ideologically correct) paper to the journal Cogent Social Sciences, where it was published. The main defenses are that the journal was a “pay to publish” open-access journal, and that one hoax by itself doesn’t prove that the entire fields of cultural and gender studies are afflicted with creeping obscurantism. Well, every journal I’ve ever published in has charged me (“page charges”, they’re called), and the second criticism is true, but there are plenty of other reasons to decry the way cultural studies have gone in universities (see here for a defense; others are on the way). A few people, whom I won’t name, have been driven into unhinged rage at the hoax, emailing and tweeting at Peter (and me!) repeatedly.

I won’t speak of this further now, but let an old Calvin and Hobbes cartoon stand for what many think:

h/t: Barry

Readers’ wildlife photos

May 28, 2017 • 7:30 am

Time to send in your wildlife photos. I’ve a decent backlog, but can always use more. Today we’ll have urban wildlife: a series sent in by reader Darrell Ernst. His notes are indented.

Our cat, Coco Chanel, likes to go outside though she doesn’t go very far. Usually not out of sight of the door let alone out of our yard. She also prefers to have one of her people hang out with her while she is outside. A few days ago Coco was sitting outside our front door with my daughter when she suddenly perked up and slithered away to check something out. It was a snake! A black racer, Coluber constrictor priapus. These snakes are fast, aggressive and have a habit of raising the front third or so of their body off the ground as they race along, much like a black mamba. Luckily they are not dangerous, at least not to something the size of a cat.

 

Luckily Brianna had her camera close at hand. A chase ensued, but ended when the snake suddenly reared up which stopped Coco in her tracks. That last picture is the look she gives her people when she is looking for some assurance that her life is not in danger. Coco likes to pretend she is a great hunter, but she isn’t. She doesn’t know what to do once she closes with something, which is more than fine with us. She has never hurt anything larger than an insect.

 

Disclaimer: Coco is not an outdoor cat; she is not let out to roam as she will. She is let out under supervision for short periods and usually doesn’t wander more than 20′ from the door.

Closer to home, I’m feeding a bunch of squirrels (is there a biological name for such a group?) daily. This one poked his head through an open window to get a nut:

Sunday: Hili dialogue

May 28, 2017 • 6:30 am

Good morning: it’s Sunday, May 28, 2017, and the second day of America’s Memorial Day weekend. So far the weather has been sunny and glorious, but we have thunderstorms predicted for today. So far, though, it’s just a bit overcast and hazy. Here’s the city from my crib at about 5 a.m.

It’s National Brisket Day, and the best way to eat that is Texas style–barbecued slowly and sliced, with a bit of sauce. It’s also Menstrual Hygiene Day, which you can read about at the link.  Here’s a photo of the doings in India:

On this day in 1588, the Spanish Armada sailed from Lisbon: 130 ship and 13,000 men intending to overthrow Queen Elizabeth. It didn’t work. On May 28, 1871, the Paris Commune fell after ruling barely two months. In 1892, John Muir started the Sierra Club, still an active organization, and in 1937, the Volkswagen company was founded. On this day in 1951, the BBC broadcast the first episode of The Goon Show, an influential comedy broadcast that had a huge influence on the genre in Britain, inspiring the creators of Monty Python. Finally, in 2008 the legislature declared Nepal a republic, bringing to an end over 200 years of the royal dynasty.

Here are a few Goon Show moments. Their humor (unlike that of the Pythons) is not to my taste, but many of my older British friends speak fondly of them. In a few places you can see the zaniness of the later Python show:

Notables born on this day include William Pitt the Younger (1759). Louis Agassiz (1807), Jim Thorpe (1888), Ian Fleming (1908), Walker Percy (1916), Gladys Knight (1944), Leland Sklar (1947), and Kylie Minogue (1968). Those who died on this day include Noah Webster (1843), Audie Murphy (1971), Gary Coleman (2010), and Maya Angelou (2014). Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is making pronouncements On Liberty, though she spends almost every night these days out on the tiles:

Hili: Freedom is dangerous.
A: But it’s delightful.
Hili: That’s true but it’s better to be careful.
In Polish:
Hili: Wolność jest niebezpieczna.
Ja: Ale rozkoszna.
Hili: To prawda, lepiej jednak uważać.
Here is the family of ducks I’m feeding in the pond outside my building. There were originally six ducklings, but two disappeared early. The remaining four are doing well on a diet of good food, including oatmeal, shelled sunflower seeds, and cracked corn, and I’m hoping they’ll all fledge. (Photo taken with iPhone.)
The pond is full of red-eared sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans) who were clearly pets discarded by people who no longer wanted them. They’re thriving now, and when it’s sunny they pile up on the cement “rounds” in the middle of the pond to soak up some heat:

And out in Winnipeg, Gus attacks! But it’s a clump of irises, not a bird or mouse. As his staff said, “What a nut!”

And the gory aftermath, with the staff adding: “My poor irises!”

 

Greg Allman died

May 27, 2017 • 4:27 pm

According to CNN, one of my music heroes, Greg Allman, just died at the age of 69, The details:

Gregg Allman, a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band who overcame family tragedy, drug addiction and health problems to become a grizzled elder statesman for the blues music he loved, has died. He was 69.

Allman died due to liver cancer complications at his home in Savannah, Georgia, and he was “surrounded by his family and friends,” Michael Lehman, Allman’s longtime manager and close friend, told CNN.
He will be buried at Rose Hill cemetery in Macon, GA, though a funeral date has not yet been set, Lehman said.
According to a statement posted to his official website, Allman had struggled with many health issues over the past several years.
Allman was of course a long-time drug user, and also had hepatitis C; you can see a video of him explaining his disease at the CNN site. I was shocked at how thin and wasted he looked.

There’s a lot I could say about his music—his great songs, his gutsy blues voice, and the wonderful synergy of the Allman Brothers Band, of which he was an integral part. But I’ll let two of songs stand for his legacy.

The first, “One Way Out“, was written by Sonny Boy Williamson and redone by the Allman Brothers. It also features Dickey Betts, who (amazingly) is still alive:

That’s a smoking band!

. . . and an acoustic version of another of my favorites, “Melissa“, written by Greg himself (read about the genesis of “Melissa” at the link). It’s a haunting and beautiful song. Wikipedia notes this about it:

When Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1971, his brother performed the song at his funeral, as he had grown to like the song over the years. Gregg Allman commented that it “didn’t sit right” that he used one of his brother’s old guitars for the performance, but he nonetheless got through it; he called it “my brother’s favorite song that I ever wrote.”

There was never a band like the Allman Brothers, and there won’t be one again. (n.b.: Allman and Betts are both wearing cowboy boots.)

You may remember that for a short time he was married to Cher, and here’s her reaction on Twitter (go here for a collection of reactions by musicians and others).

Finally, a 7½-minute PBS mini-documentary of Greg Allman, made five years ago:

Daily reading: the Manchester attacks and ISIS

May 27, 2017 • 3:00 pm

Well here’s a surprise: The Independent, a Leftist newspaper, has managed to transcend the hypocrisy of sites like the Guardian to publish the following op-ed piece (click on the screenshot to read). Sadly, the Independent ceased on-paper publication in March of last year, and is now found only online. I used to read it when I lived in the UK.

A quote from author Patrick Cockburn, who’s speaking of Wahhabi Islam:

This approach of not blaming Muslims in general but targeting “radicalisation” or simply “evil” may appear sensible and moderate, but in practice it makes the motivation of the killers in Manchester or the Bataclan theatre in Paris in 2015 appear vaguer and less identifiable than it really is. Such generalities have the unfortunate effect of preventing people pointing an accusing finger at the variant of Islam which certainly is responsible for preparing the soil for the beliefs and actions likely to have inspired the suicide bomber Salman Abedi.

. . . The real causes of “radicalisation” have long been known, but the government, the BBC and others seldom if ever refer to it because they do not want to offend the Saudis or be accused of anti-Islamic bias. It is much easier to say, piously but quite inaccurately, that Isis and al-Qaeda and their murderous foot soldiers “have nothing to do with Islam”. This has been the track record of US and UK governments since 9/11. They will look in any direction except Saudi Arabia when seeking the causes of terrorism. President Trump has been justly denounced and derided in the US for last Sunday accusing Iran and, in effect, the Shia community of responsibility for the wave of terrorism that has engulfed the region when it ultimately emanates from one small but immensely influential Sunni sect. One of the great cultural changes in the world over the last 50 years is the way in which Wahhabism, once an isolated splinter group, has become an increasingly dominant influence over mainstream Sunni Islam, thanks to Saudi financial support.

. . . The culpability of Western governments for terrorist attacks on their own citizens is glaring but is seldom even referred to. Leaders want to have a political and commercial alliance with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf oil states. They have never held them to account for supporting a repressive and sectarian ideology which is likely to have inspired Salman Abedi.

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And, mirabile dictu, the Guardian—the HuffPo of England—has published an article by Nick Cohen, whose voice we desperately need in these tumultuous days. His article: “After Manchester, our values will only prevail if we speak up for them.” (I’ll ignore the misplaced word “only”, which belongs after rather than before “prevail”, and assume it’s the work of a copywriter.) What bothered me a bit about the British reaction to the Manchester bombings—which in the main was an admirable display of courage, stoicism, and empathy—was the incessant mantra of: “We must go on just as before or the terrorists will win.” Well, no, no Western country can go on as before—not unless we want more innocent civilians blown to bits. I don’t know what the solution is, but it doesn’t seem to be taking off your shoes in airports or avoiding crowds. We’re facing a new age now, and an enemy willing to die to kill the rest of us, assured by their faith that they’ll gain Paradise.  An enemy that doesn’t mind dying for his cause, indeed wants to die for his cause, is the most dangerous enemy of all. Our tactics and behaviors must somehow change.

And that is, in part, what Nick Cohen wrote about. A few excerpts:

But warm words about “our way of life prevailing” rub up against scratchy questions about what our “life” is now and which way it is taking. Talk to anti-Islamist Muslim writers and activists and they are worried. They don’t see “diversity” and “community”, those warmest of 21st century words, as synonyms but opposites. No one knows the level of Islamic State support in Britain, they say, but with MI5 monitoring 3,000 suspects it isn’t negligible. Beyond the violent and potentially violent lie fractured and isolated ghettos, where large numbers are prey to religious demagogues.

. . . I don’t wish to sound alarmist. There is no conveyor belt that picks up believers in reactionary religion and transports them to religious violence. You can spend your life believing women should be second-class citizens and homosexuality and apostasy are crimes that in an ideal Islamic state deserve the death sentence and never harm anyone apart from your wife and children. Equally, desegregating the school system is a modest reform, not a panacea. As for the silence of mainstream conservatives, I am sure that if Theresa May is re-elected she will not call for a Muslim travel ban.

But if you believe ideas have power, then you must believe in the power of bad ideas to harm when they are left uncontested. Liberal Muslims suffer from the widespread belief that to be “liberal is a contradiction of the faith”, as Rabbil Sikdar put it. With honourable exceptions, white liberals prefer the safe life and hold that it is “Islamophobic” to help their cause and argue their case. Liberal conservatives say nothing because they fear their party leadership won’t support them and know the rightwing press will denounce them. They too cede the field without striking a blow.

“Our values will prevail,” says Theresa May. No they won’t. Not if no one is prepared to say what they are, let alone prepared to fight for them

*********

Finally. we have Maajid Nawaz on the radio station “Leading Britain’s Conversation”. His six-minute video is described in this way:

Leading figures from the Didsbury Mosque have spoken out against Isis, and condemned member Salman Ramadan Abedi – the 22-year-old responsible for the Manchester bombing.

In a strongly worded statement, Didsbury mosque and Manchester Islamic Centre called the terrorist attack an act of cowardice, adding that it has worked peacefully at the heart of the community for more than 50 years.

But Maajid Nawaz is not impressed.

In this clip he explains how the Mosque will have to do a lot more to gain his respect, given their track record.

Click on the screenshot to view the video, and remember that Nawaz, who fights incessantly against radical and extremist Islamism, has been labeled an “Anti-Muslim Extremist” by the increasingly ridiculous Southern Poverty Law Center.  Do his words make him seem “anti-Muslim”? I don’t think so: he’s asking for his own faith to be enlightened and liberalized. He and the SPLC are on the same side!

How can Progressives possibly have any objection to these views?

h/t: Simon, Grania